Jim changed a hobby into a living in 1986, aged nearly 40, after 12 years in Aberdeen's oil industry where he held various commercial positions. He has worked as a freelance photographer ever since. For several years he freelanced for the Deeside Piper, a local weekly newspaper, whilst building up a photographic library of North East Scotland. He joined The British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (BAPLA) in 1991. He gained his AMPA in 1992 and, by exemption, his ARPS in 1997. However he has since given up both of these memberships. In 1995 he became a Member of the Association of Historic and Fine Art Photographers.
Jim specialises mainly landscape and historical material related to North East Scotland for the tourist-related publishing media. His work appears in calendars, on postcards and book covers, and in magazine articles. He undertakes commercial work, mainly fine art and web-based, and retains an operational B&W darkroom for hand processing clients' monochrome work. He remains a contributor to the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) Library in Edinburgh for Grampian-based properties. Jim also assisted Reading University Archaeological teams, as photographer, on a number of digs in Aberdeenshire over recent years. Several of his photographs were published in The Moon and The Bonfire by Professor Richard Bradley.
Having obtained an HNC in Photography at Aberdeen College in 1998, he worked as a part-time teacher in traditional and then digital photography at both the college and its outreach sites. He currently teaches a digital photography evening class at a local community centre, and runs a week-long residential course at Balmoral Castle.
Eight trips to Egypt since 1994 have contributed to a varied collection of photographs of ancient Egyptian sites. Much of this material is now being added to alamy.com. He has also produced an extensive collection of Aurora Borealis photographs taken on Royal Deeside since 1989.
PUBLISHED WORK
- 1999 - Two works accepted for The London Salon of Photography.
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1998-99 - Deeside Partnership Royal Deeside Photographic Competition - First prize and two Runner-up prizes.
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1992 - One-man exhibition at Aberdeen Arts Centre, King Street, as part of the support for the launch of Grampian (see books list below).
BOOKS
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1992 - Grampian, Alan Sutton Publishing (ISBN 0 - 7509 - 0119 - 5)
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1996 - Egyptian Holiday, Crooktree Images (self-published - ISBN 0 - 9529434 - 0 - 9)
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1997 - The Aurora - An Introduction, Crooktree Images (self-published - ISBN 0 - 9529434 - 1 - 7)
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2000 - Scenery of the Dee, Crooktree Images (for Mike Rasmussen - ISBN 0 - 9529434 - 2 - 5)
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2003 - Aberdeen, Aberdeen Journals/Hochland Publishing (ISBN 1 - 904038 -16 - 6)
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2004 - Aberdeenshire & Royal Deeside, Aberdeen Journals/Hochland Publishing (ISBN 1 - 84547 - 044 - 3)
NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS AND ARTICLES
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1990 - Scotland's Northern Lights, Photography Magazine
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1991 - Kincardineshire Promotion, Aerzte Medico Journal
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1993 - Spotlight on Banchory, Leopard Magazine
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1993 - Grampian Book Article, Bronica User Magazine
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1993 - Night Sky Photography, Camera Wise Pro File
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1994 - The Northern Lights, Leopard Magazine
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1995 - Flash Damage - Fine Art Photography, The Master Photographer
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1996 - A Highland & Islands Guidebook - Ordnance Survey
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1997 - Selling Egypt, The Master Photographer
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2003 - Private Property, Public Access, RPS Journal